# Home Brewing Tips



## Stogiefanatic182 (Oct 28, 2005)

I came across this and figured I would post it to help those interested in starting to brew at home.

http://www.askmen.com/fashion/how_to_200/223_how_to.html


----------



## Warhorse545 (Oct 16, 2005)

Nice find there stogie.

Here is also a walk through tour on brewing that some might find helpful.

http://www.breworganic.com/tips/Virtual_class/class-equipment.htm

Scroll down to bottom and click red arrow to start the class.

Stacey


----------



## mikey202 (Dec 29, 2005)

Must.....get.......brewkit........


----------



## SeanGAR (Jul 9, 2004)

Some interesting reading I've enjoyed on American brewing history .. read while you're waiting for your suds to ferment.

http://www.beerhistory.com/
http://www.americanbreweriana.org/history/home.htm


----------



## altbier (Feb 20, 2005)

www.brewboard.com is awesome group too


----------



## Stogmeister (Mar 22, 2006)

Thanks for the links, very helpful. I want to try to start brewing myself, but want to make sure I buy the right stuff to start with. My main concern is lack of a cold room or basement for fermenting. We keep our house about 75 in the summer, is that cold enough for fermenting? Is it possible to just place the carboy in a larger tub and add a bit of water/ice as needed to keep the temp. down? Or maybe I just brew in the "winter."


----------



## SeanGAR (Jul 9, 2004)

Stogmeister said:


> Thanks for the links, very helpful. I want to try to start brewing myself, but want to make sure I buy the right stuff to start with. My main concern is lack of a cold room or basement for fermenting. We keep our house about 75 in the summer, is that cold enough for fermenting? Is it possible to just place the carboy in a larger tub and add a bit of water/ice as needed to keep the temp. down? Or maybe I just brew in the "winter."


There are several ale yeast strains that should be OK in the 73-75F range. Look at www.whitelabs.com or http://www.wyeastlab.com/beprlist.htm for information. trying to keep the temperature down by using evaporation will have some effect .. how much I have no idea.


----------



## ResIpsa (Mar 8, 2006)

What SeanGar said, plus think about the following: what is it you want to homebrew, beer or ale? General rules, beers are bottom fermented and must be kept cooler when fermenting (hence the term "lagering", they are normally femented in 60's. Ales on the other hand are top fermented and the fermenting temps are typically higher (high 60's-low 70's you must research the capabilties of the yeast strain.) Do you have space for a spare refrig in which to ferment? That would help a lot. The ice in a bathtub thing PROBABLY wouldn't work, how would you keep the temp in the right range? 
http://morebeer.com/ is an excellent source for supplies and information.


Stogmeister said:


> Thanks for the links, very helpful. I want to try to start brewing myself, but want to make sure I buy the right stuff to start with. My main concern is lack of a cold room or basement for fermenting. We keep our house about 75 in the summer, is that cold enough for fermenting? Is it possible to just place the carboy in a larger tub and add a bit of water/ice as needed to keep the temp. down? Or maybe I just brew in the "winter."


----------



## Stogmeister (Mar 22, 2006)

ResIpsa said:


> What SeanGar said, plus think about the following: what is it you want to homebrew, beer or ale? General rules, beers are bottom fermented and must be kept cooler when fermenting (hence the term "lagering", they are normally femented in 60's. Ales on the other hand are top fermented and the fermenting temps are typically higher (high 60's-low 70's you must research the capabilties of the yeast strain.) Do you have space for a spare refrig in which to ferment? That would help a lot. The ice in a bathtub thing PROBABLY wouldn't work, how would you keep the temp in the right range?


Hmm...need to do more research, seems like ales would be easier for me down here. I have a spare frig (beerbox) but I'm pretty sure it's thermostat would max out in the 30's or 40's or something. For the waterbath to work I think I'd need to place a 5 gal. carboy into larger beverage cooler and fill with water and ice. I don't think it'd take much ice to keep it in the 60's for a week or so (keep re-freezing small water bottles or something). Obviously the hard part would be to know when to add more ice. Once you figured it out though, could be as simple as adding xx amount of ice, every xx hours or something like that (would need some help in the middle of the day).


----------



## ResIpsa (Mar 8, 2006)

check out the morebeer website. They sell external controllers (johnson controls is one that comes to mind) that have a probe running inside the frig. The control plus into the wall, the frig into the control. You then have either a digital or analog setting on the control itself that allows you to bypass the frigs internal thermostat. (i think that's how it works). Anyway in practice what happens is you can set the controller to 70 degrees F and it will hold the frig at that temp, cycling the compressor on and off as needed.


Stogmeister said:


> Hmm...need to do more research, seems like ales would be easier for me down here. I have a spare frig (beerbox) but I'm pretty sure it's thermostat would max out in the 30's or 40's or something.


----------



## Hoppy (Sep 21, 2005)

ResIpsa said:


> check out the morebeer website. They sell external controllers (johnson controls is one that comes to mind) that have a probe running inside the frig. The control plus into the wall, the frig into the control. You then have either a digital or analog setting on the control itself that allows you to bypass the frigs internal thermostat. (i think that's how it works). Anyway in practice what happens is you can set the controller to 70 degrees F and it will hold the frig at that temp, cycling the compressor on and off as needed.


I've had a Johnson control on my frig for 3-4 years..... works great!


----------



## Stogmeister (Mar 22, 2006)

Cool (no pun intended), thanks for the tips, I'll look into it.


----------

